The present invention relates, in general, to a multiple switch device and, in particular, to an off board, on-line multiple switch device for selectively opening and closing circuits of a multi-conductor electrical cable termination assembly. Moreover, the invention relates to an improved multiple switch device wherein the multiple contacts, which may connect to external terminals, cable termination assemblies, or the like, are molded into a common body part of the device and extensions of respective pairs of those multiple contacts provide the switch contacts over which an electrically conductive slide glides to open or to close respective circuits.
Multi-conductor electrical cables, such as flat ribbon-type cables, are employed, for example, to provide simultaneous electrical connection of a plurality of circuits at one location to another plurality of circuits at another location. To facilitate connecting such a cable to such circuits respective multiple contact terminations are secured at each end of the cable to connect the conductors thereof with respective contacts of a multiple contact receptacle, or the like, which terminate such circuits. The combination of such a multi-conductor electrical cable and termination therefor is usually referred to as a multi-conductor electrical cable termination assembly, cable termination assembly, or the like.
Typically such multi-conductor electrical cables of the flat ribbon-type, for example, have more than two and usually on the order of from about twenty to about fifty or even more conductors, and the terminations therefor include a corresponding number of electrical contacts usually arranged in plural, normally two, parallel rows in a conventional dual-in-line pattern for facility of manipulation and compactness. Such terminations usually may be categorized as either female or male type, depending on the type of electrical contact employed therein, such as, for example, fork contacts or pin contacts, respectively.
An advantage of such usage of cable termination assemblies is the facility with which many connections can be simultaneously made. Another advantage is the relative compactness of the cable termination assembly, which enables those many connections to be made in a relatively small space. However, one disadvantage encountered in the past using such cable termination assemblies has been the inability to switch open or closed selected conductor circuits thereof with facility while at the same time maintaining the above and other advantages.
In a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 676,900, filed Apr. 14, 1976, which application is assigned to the same assignee as the present application, there is disclosed a Multiple Switch Device that is an off-board device, i.e. not necessarily located on a circuit board or other electrical apparatus, which is connectable between a cable termination assembly and its receptacle in on-line relation to both the assembly termination and its receptacle, i.e. physically present adjacent both. On-line means that the multiple switch device is connectable physically as an extension of a multi-conductor cable termination assembly between the latter and its receptacle, as opposed to being a remotely located device, and this on-line feature, therefore, facilitates overall circuit assembly, reduces circuit materials, enhances the integrity of the connections, and so on. Receptacle, as used in the present and co-pending applications, refers generally to any device adapted for connection with a cable termination assembly, whether the termination of another such assembly, a socket, terminal, or the like of a circuit board, of a computer or of any other electrical apparatus, etc. When so connected on-line, the multiple switch device may be selectively adjusted to open or to close each of the conductor circuits between the cable termination assembly and its receptacle while still maintaining the mentioned facility of connection and compactness advantages.
The multiple switch device of such co-pending application employs respective pairs of electrically isolated printed circuits that may be selectively bridged by electrically conductive slides to complete respective circuits in the switch housing and, thus, between respective electrical contacts that are soldered to opposite sides of each such switch circuit. Plastic or similar material is molded about each end of the printed circuit board to enclose the solder connections, and the plurality of printed circuits are exposed for placement of respective slides for movement thereon to open and to close respective switch circuits. Moreover, to facilitate the gliding movement of the respective slides and to avoid unnecessary wearing of the printed circuits and the slides, the electrical discontinuity between respective printed electrically conductive paths of each pair of printed circuits is formed on a bias with respect to the linear extent of each path so that the contact portions of each slide move only in a single plane and do not encounter any step at the juncture of one path and the electrical discontinuity.